"Laters gators."
Written by Danielle Iman and Jeremy Slater, and directed by Mohamed Diab.
Marc, Steven, and Layla rush to stop Harrow before Ammit passes judgement on the world.
Released May 04, 2022.
Tropes:
- Almost Dead Guy: The avatar of Osiris lives long enough to deliver some exposition to Layla before collapsing dead.
- Ambiguous Ending:
- The post-credits stinger has Jake Lockley fronting to kill Harrow, but what does this mean for Marc, Steven, and Layla going forward? Given the way Jake, Marc, and Steven all front at various times during the Dr. Harrow sequence, does this mean they're aware of each other's presence (given how Steven goes "We want to save the world?")?
- Are Layla and Marc going to divorce, or will they figure out a way to keep their marriage going?
- Ambiguous Situation:
- When Layla disguises herself as one of Harrow's followers, he seems to know she's there when they get stopped by the police checkpoint. Was he confident she'd fail if she tried to kill him, or was he sticking to his belief in her being a good person since she'd just survived the mass judgement he unleashed on the cops?
- Are Marc and Steven fully aware of Jake's presence and how Khonshu was really looking for Jake this entire time? They both know that they're not fully violent types and Layla was a witness to everything, plus she was a vessel to Taweret at the time, not to mention that Steven specifically states that both he and Marc were to be released from Khonshu's deal.
- Anti-Climax: Jake taking over and murdering all of the disciples right after what's built up to be the Darkest Hour, especially given that when he fronts, the other black out, so it doesn't actually show how any of that happened.
- Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Whether or not members of the Ennead can kill each other or not is left vague: the others choose to imprison Ammit and Khonshu, but Ammit certainly seemed willing to kill him, and Khonshu either can't or chooses not to kill Harrow himself, instead electing to have Jake do it.
- Attack Reflector: Right after Layla as Scarlet Scarab enters the fray, Harrow tries to blast her with the energy from his staff, but the attack ricochets against her closed wings, hitting Harrow in the chest and sending him sprawling.
- Back from the Dead: Marc refuses to enter the Field of Reeds without Steven and goes back to the Duat for him. Once they're reunited, Osiris's gate opens, allowing them to return to life, at which point they become Moon Knight and heal from their injuries.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: After Marc refuses to execute Harrow (and with him, Ammit), Khonshu pretends to accept the decision... then has Jake Lockley, the most brutal alter out of the three, do the deed himself.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Just when you think Marc and Steven are free of Khonshu, and Khonshu visits Harrow in the asylum, you expect he'll become Khonshu's Avatar again, but it transpires that Khonshu already has an avatar in Jake Lockley, formerly known as "the third alter".
- Khonshu made Marc think that Layla would be his next avatar, a suspicion that seems confirmed when Khonshu offers the job to her in lieu of the currently deceased Marc. No, it's his alter Jake Lockley who becomes the new Fist of Vengeance.
- In the stinger, we find ourselves in a hospital setting again, making the viewer expect to see Marc and Steven committed again, wondering if it's later or earlier, or that it was All Just a Dream after all. Then the camera pans to show that it's Arthur Harrow who has been committed.
- Jake Lockley usually speaks with a Brooklyn Rage accent, as shown in episode 5. Here, he only speaks Spanish.
- Battle Couple: After Layla agrees to be Taweret's avatar, and Marc and Steven have returned from the dead, they team up to fight Harrow together.
- Battle Discretion Shot: Just as Harrow is about to win, Marc blacks out... and the scene comes back with Marc on top of an unconscious Harrow, surrounded by the corpses of all the cultists, with Jake's battle and victory occurring entirely offscreen.
- Behemoth Battle: Ammit and Khonshu, both now skyscraper-sized, have a showdown at the shadow of the Great Pyramids of Giza.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Marc and Steven are running towards Osiris' gate, but the sands of the Duat rise up and threaten to overwhelm them before they can reach it. Cue Taweret steering her barge through the wave of sand to break it and give them a chance to make it to safety.
- All seems lost when Harrow's followers have Layla pinned down by gunfire and Harrow himself has Marc pinned to the ground and starts killing him. Then Marc blacks out and wakes up to find Harrow and his minions defeated, implicitly the result of Jake's last-minute intervention.
- Bittersweet Ending: Marc and Steven finally get out of their service to Khonshu... only for it to turn out that Marc's third alter — Jake Lockely — is Khonshu's real avatar, meaning that they're still stuck in service to him (albeit by proxy). Additionally, countless innocent people were forcibly consigned to the Duat by the Disciples of Ammit (and the the remainder of the cult's whereabouts are unknown), but at the very least both Harrow and Ammit have been defeated for good, sparing the world from their precrime rampage.
- Bookends:
- The episode ends with Marc waking up in the London flat and landing face-first on the floor, all while "Man Without Love" plays in the background.
- The episode itself begins with the image of Harrow (in the recap) shooting Marc and ends with Jake shooting Harrow.
- The first episode begins by showing Arthur Harrow without showing his face — and then we suddenly cut to Steven's face as he wakes up, seemingly from a nightmare. This episode ends with a man whose face isn't shown coming to get Harrow in a wheelchair, and in the last few seconds, we see his face, and it looks exactly like Steven's.
- Brick Joke: At the end, Marc/Steven wake up in Steven's flat, both having entirely forgotten about the anti-sleepwalking restraint established in the first episode. As a result, Marc falls flat on his face upon leaving the bed.
- Circling Monologue: After Harrow summons Ammit, the latter circles him while they talk.
- Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: After becoming Taweret's Avatar and becoming the Scarlet Scarab, Layla never goes by the name; she just gets called an "Egyptian superhero" by a little girl after seeing Layla in action.
- Complexity Addiction: Lockley slaughters a number of people inside the asylum Harrow is in (though not the nurse tending him, for some reason) so he can wheel the man out to a limo for a chat with Khonshu, at the end of which Lockley rolls down the divider and kills Harrow. Khonshu could have had the chat in the asylum and Lockley could have killed him there. Apparently, Khonshu wanted to do it in the limo... or maybe having Harrow's body was important to Khonshu... or maybe they just wanted to make it look like he had been kidnapped instead of killed...
- Creator Cameo: Director Mohamed Diab
shows up as one of Harrow's cultists, with producer Grant Curtis as one of his victims. - Death by Cameo: Producer Grant Curtis gets a brief cameo, in which his soul immediately gets claimed by Ammit.
- Defiant to the End: When Ammit initially gets the better of Khonshu, she offers him the chance to surrender and join her. Khonshu replies by telling her he'd rather be obliterated than side with her. Marc's revival spares him the need to actually die, however.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Layla hides herself among Harrow's followers, an easier task than you might expect, given their pragmatic desert garb and lack of uniformity.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: After a small but significant role in the third episode, here, Yatzil is struck dead by Harrow offscreen without more than a single line.
- Due to the Dead: Downplayed; Harrow and his followers don't bury or dispose of Marc's body, but they at least drag him out of the water, and Harrow leaves the scarab they had fought over with the body as a sign of respect.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Throughout the series, Marc and Steven have feared that Khonshu wants Layla to be his next avatar. Khonshu is revealed to have been amused by this, given that the third personality, Jake, is willingly working as his avatar.
- Exact Words: Khonshu promised to release Marc and Steven... And just those two. He never said he'd release Jake, who appears to be willingly serving Khonshu.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The person who takes Harrow into the limo has a flat cap... a signature item of Jake Lockley.
- Foreshadowing: For all of Marc's fears of Khonshu eyeing Layla to be his new Moon Knight, the matter is rather swiftly resolved when Khonshu makes her the offer, and she very steadfastly refuses. This hints at how Marc wasn't exactly on point about Khonshu's goals, since The Stinger reveals that his preferred candidate was actually none other than Jake Lockley.
- Footprints of Muck: In the mental asylum, Marc notices Dr. Harrow leaving bloody footprints. Dr. Harrow is surprised and confused by this, wondering why he's bleeding.
- Godzilla Threshold: Needing one more avatar to seal Ammit, Layla agrees to be Taweret's avatar. She insists on it being a temporary arrangement, but the reaction of a little girl to her heroics hints she might be amenable to remaining in the position.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The scene cuts away from Harrow's execution, only showing some muzzle flashes from the windows of the limo.
- Gratuitous Spanish: In his sole appearance in The Stinger, Jake Lockley speaks exclusively in Spanish, both to the nurse and to Harrow before he kills him.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Arthur Harrow leaves the scarab with the supposedly dead Marc, having no further use for it... and then Layla uses it to find him.
- Hollywood Silencer: One is employed by Jake to put Harrow down inside a car that's parked just outside a mental hospital currently in operation without anyone noticing.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: A subversion. Marc refuses to kill Ammit by killing Harrow because he finds the hypocrisy distasteful, and tells Khonshu to kill them himself. The latter does just that, but elects to do it through the familiar hands of another...
- Instant Expert:
- Subverted with Steven's combat performance as Mr. Knight in the finale: as it was part of his realization that Marc's instinctual skills are also his, it makes sense that his growth in confidence and self-realization allows him to finally fight on the same level as him.
- Played with in regard to Layla. Despite only receiving her superpowers and new equipment minutes before, she wields both expertly against Harrow and his followers. Layla was previously shown to already have respectable fighting skills, fighting off both human and supernatural mooks without any superpowers. However, she takes to the enhanced strength and instincts like a duck to water.
- Irony: Ammit's whole shtick is to judge people's scales and consume the souls of those who aren't balanced, yet she has to choose an imbalanced avatar if she wants to enact her plans. As she admits to Harrow, her previous perfectly balanced avatar took umbrage with her actions and sealed her inside an ushabti for the past 2000 years.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: Marc and Steven have to outrun a sand tsunami in order to escape the Duat, but Marc's right leg isn't quite healed yet, so he tells Steven to leave him behind and run for the gate. Steven isn't having it.
- Just in Time: Marc and Steven return to life just as Ammit is about to kill Khonshu, allowing him to join with Marc to avoid the attack.
- Karmic Death: Harrow gave Marc the Double Tap treatment. Jake Lockley returns the favor.
- Keeping the Enemy Close: Harrow hears Layla kill one of his mooks in Alexander the Great's tomb, and when the convoy reaches the police roadblock, he's clearly keeping watch on her out of the corner of his eye.
- Kick the Dog:
- Knowing he can't defeat them both at once, Harrow attacks a Bus Full of Innocents fleeing from the climactic fight to force Marc and Layla to divide their efforts.
- Harrow throws the death of Marc's brother in his face, proclaiming that had Ammit been free, she would have killed young Marc before Randall could have died (thus blaming Marc for his brother's death, just as his abusive mother had).
- Jake assaults (possibly killing) at least two of the staff of the psychiatric institution while abducting Harrow.
- Killed Offscreen: Most of the Ennead's avatars are killed by Harrow offscreen. Osiris's only lingers long enough to pass on some vital information to Layla and open the gates for Steven and Marc to return to life, though Taweret briefly possesses him to speak to Layla.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- The vessels of the other gods refused to listen to Marc's pleas about Harrow summoning Ammit. Now, when it's too late, they realize that they should've opened their minds to him, and they get slaughtered.
- Harrow uses Marc's mental illness against him during his trial before the Ennead. After his defeat, Harrow himself is locked in a psychiatric institution.
- After judging countless souls for future crimes, Harrow and Ammit are executed by Jake on Khonshu's orders to avert the possibility that they may cause harm in the future.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: After spending most of the season proselytizing and manipulating, Harrow proves that he's very capable in a fight now that he's directly empowered by Ammit, holding his own admirably against Marc, Steven, and Layla at the same time.
- Mundane Solution: Khonshu told Layla to tell Marc to free him if he got sealed in an ushabti, giving the impression that a certain ritual that only Marc knew was needed. Turns out it's as simple as smashing the ushabti on the floor.
- Mythology Gag:
- The Stinger has Khonshu sporting a sleek white suit, the same one that he wore in the Moon Knight comic book. The sleek white car with the "SPKTR" vanity plate is also cribbed directly from that run.
- Jake makes his first appearance as Khonshu's driver. In the comics, he is a taxi driver.
- Near-Villain Victory: Ammit is overwhelming Khonshu, and Harrow has Scarlet Scarab pinned down and Moon Knight at his mercy. Cue Marc and Steven's third alter kicking in and saving the day.
- Negated Moment of Awesome: Harrow invades the temple, and the other avatars stand against him. The avatar of Osiris powers up. Then the show cuts away and, when we see the temple again, all the avatars except one are dead.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- Harrow leaves the golden scarab with Marc's body. Layla picks it up, using it to follow Harrow out of the tomb by tracking Ammit, now that his followers have her statuette. This allows her to free Khonshu later, as well as become Taweret's Avatar.
- Killing the Ennead's avatars works against Harrow, as it convinces Osiris to allow Marc and Steven to return to the world of the living to thwart Harrow's plans.
- Non-Indicative Name: The MCU's version of Scarlet Scarab dresses primarily in Gold and White Are Divine.
- No Place for Me There: When Harrow finally meets Ammit, he's fully aware that his own scales do not balance and is ready to accept her judgment. However, Ammit spares him because she sees the value in a servant who is willing to cross moral lines that others might not.
- Not So Above It All: The normally composed and eloquent Harrow treats Khonshu with casual disdain during their final meeting, even making a "blah blah blah" hand motion as the moon god pontificates.
- "Not So Different" Remark:
- Ammit tries this on Khonshu, as they're both Knight Templar gods dedicated to punishing the wicked. Khonshu responds with a Kirk Summation.
- Khonshu orders Marc to kill Harrow and Ammit inside his body to prevent the latter from emerging again somewhere in the future and completing her Evil Plan. Marc refuses, pointing out that Khonshu sounds like Ammit now, and tells him that if he wants to kill Harrow/Ammit, he'll have to do it himself.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
- Jake takes over after Marc is overwhelmed by Harrow, and Marc wakes up to find Harrow's followers slaughtered and Harrow himself bloodied and completely helpless.
- Turns out Jake can also be subtle about it, reaching Arthur Harrow in the asylum to abduct him without anyone ever finding out, despite leaving a trail of bodies.
- Oh, Crap!: Harrow has this look when Jake Lockley, the third alter, turns around from the driver's seat with a pistol.
- Parallel Conflict Sequence: Ammit fights Khonshu at the same time that Harrow takes on Moon Knight and Scarlet Scarab.
- People Puppets: Taweret is able to speak through Layla once Layla agrees to be her avatar, similar to Khonshu speaking through Marc several episodes ago.
- Pet the Dog: Despite Harrow being willing to die in accordance with his beliefs, Ammit insists on using him as her avatar, assuring him that his imbalance is less of a detriment than he thinks it is.
- Place of Power: The temple of the gods is the only place gods can be sealed or released. Harrow, once he has Ammit's statuette, is able to breach it and kill the other avatars.
- Possessing a Dead Body: Taweret possesses the corpses of recently slain soldiers, and later, Osiris's avatar, to speak to Layla. She can only keep it up briefly before having to swap to another, seemingly because the reanimated corpses just die again (a fate she warned would befall Marc and Steven without Khonshu's powers to heal them).
- Pragmatic Villainy: Ammit would normally judge Harrow for having unbalanced scales, but someone with his loyalty and proclivity towards violence makes a more suitable avatar for her than someone with balanced scales that might morally object to her actions. Such a mistake is what got her sealed away for two millennia in the first place.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Jake says to Harrow in Spanish, "Today, it's your turn to lose," before shooting him dead.
- Razor Wings: Scarlet Scarab's costume comes with bulletproof and super-sharp golden wings. Stylish and deadly.
- Refusing Paradise: Marc abandons the Field of Reeds to save Steven.
- The Reveal: Marc and Steven have a third alter known as Jake Lockley, who was in Khonshu's employ all along, and Khonshu never had any interest in making Layla his new avatar (only offering in this episode because circumstances left him with no alternative).
- Rule of Symbolism: There's an additional goldfish in the fish tank, symbolizing Marc and Steven's newfound unity.
- Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: To stop Ammit for good, Marc and Layla use their combined power as avatars to seal her inside Harrow, who is mortal and will thus take her with him if he's killed. Though Marc refuses to kill Harrow, Jake picks up the slack.
- Sequel Hook: Marc and Steven are free, but Khonshu still has Jake Lockley working for him, who finishes the deed and kills Harrow/Ammit for good before heading off to continue Khonshu's work. There's also the fact that many of the gods are still trapped in ushabtis, and it's unknown if Harrow's death means the end of the Disciples of Ammit themselves.
- Shout-Out:
- There is a moment in the battle between Khonshu and Ammit where she asks him why he keeps fighting when they could rule the world together, and he replies: "Because I choose to."
- At one point in the episode, Harrow dons a Jim Jones-esque pair of glasses.
- Sole Survivor: Harrow judges a group of soldiers en masse, which leaves only one still alive after he is judged to be good while his comrades are not.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Frank Sinatra's "My Way of Life", a song about devotion to a loved one, plays during the scene where Jake shoots Harrow and drives away from the psychiatric institution. The lyric "I'll never let you go," is heard as the scene cuts to black, twisting the song's meaning and emphasizing Khonshu's relationship with his avatar.
- Squee: Taweret squeaks Layla's name with excitement when she accepts the offer to be her temporary avatar.
- Stance System: Now that Marc and Steven are more connected, this has become their fighting style, switching between Moon Knight and Mr. Knight on the fly. Marc mostly uses his crescent blades and acrobatics, while Steven goes with escrima sticks and punching.
- The Stinger: The post-credit scene has Khonshu introduce Jake Lockley to Harrow. Lockley then kills Harrow with a Double Tap.
- Sudden Downer Ending: Hooray, Marc and Steven are freed now... waitasec what's Jake Lockley doing here?!
- Super-Empowering: As Ammit's avatar, Harrow is able to empower his followers to judge others as he did while using his cane.
- Superhero Movie Villains Die: Invoked and enforced. After Ammit is sealed physically into Arthur Harrow, already implied to be a Fate Worse than Death, Khonshu has Jake Lockley abduct him to take him out.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- For Mr. Knight, and by extension, Steven Grant himself. Now that he has some understanding of Marc's fighting style, Mr. Knight manages to perform all sorts of spectacular feats in the climax.
- Layla takes one as well after becoming Taweret's (temporary) Avatar, sporting her own suit of armor and distinctive weapons.
- Now that they've come to an understanding with each other, Marc and Steven can voluntarily switch back and forth, alternating their costumes and power-sets as they do so, making them more capable than either one was on their own before.
- Vanity License Plate: The license plate on the Rolls Royce Jake Lockley drives reads "SPKTR".
- Villainous Breakdown: After being calm and measured throughout his other appearances, Harrow starts yelling angrily at Marc while they fight, losing his temper for the first time in the series, giving pointlessly cruel commentary on Marc's past in the process. Later, after being abducted from the hospital Marc left him in, Harrow is initially confident that Khonshu can't hurt him, but that confidence disappears in an instant when Jake makes his presence known, with Harrow only having time to utter a quick "wait" before Jake guns him down.Harrow: Had Ammit been allowed to rule, young Randall's life would have been saved! Your family would have been happy! We need only remove one weed from the garden: you!
- Villainous Valour: Harrow sincerely offers his life to Ammit in accordance with his beliefs, and during the climax, he fights admirably against Moon Knight (and Mr. Knight) and an avatar-boosted Layla, even getting the better of Marc before Jake takes over.
- Villains Want Mercy: Harrow's reaction right before Jake shoots him is a hand up and a "Wait—!"
- Visual Pun: A scene of the psychiatric hospital in The Stinger shows a rubber duck dressed as a doctor, before panning to Harrow. It's a quack doctor, just as the imagined Harrow in Marc's mind was.
- We Can Rule Together: While restraining Khonshu with her hair-tail, Ammit suggests they work together, but Khonshu vehemently refuses.
- Wham Line: Khonshu wants Harrow to meet an old friend of his:Khonshu: Meet my friend, Jake Lockley.
- Wham Shot: The window to the driver's section of the limo goes down, and Jake Lockley is in the driver's seat.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- What happened to the other deities that were trapped as ushabtis?
- Where is Layla after Khonshu ended the contract with Marc and Steven? And, while she told Taweret that the contract to be her avatar was temporary, did she hold to that decision?
- What happened to the Disciples of Ammit? Are there still members out there who will continue Arthur's ways?
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In a rare villainous use of this trope, when Harrow is chosen by Ammit to be her avatar he is reluctant to accept it. She assures Harrow that, although his scales are unbalanced, he is worthy to be her Avatar and she gratefully accepts him. She's genuine in her praise, as well, speaking of Harrow's loyalty as she battles Khonshu.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Ammit feeds on the souls of those judged by Harrow's followers.
"Today is your turn to lose."
